What a Week

I'm going to write these things down because they are crazy things that I'll probably think about in the future. Don't feel like you have to read about it. This is for my own documentation.

Tuesday, laptop died. It seriously completely stopped working. Don't know what happened, but it made me upset. Isn't it funny how dependent on the computer we can be nowadays? I think our computer is still under warranty so hopefully it can be fixed.

Today, I asked Jace to put my cell phone in his pocket and take it out to the car for me. My hands were full carrying Ariana and the diaper bag and all of the blankets and stuff. Anyways, Jace decided that once he got outside, he wanted to run around in the snow. Well, he got in the car and my phone was no longer in his pocket. So, I don't know if it's in the snow or if it's in my car or where it is. No laptop and no phone....TORTURE! At least I have internet other places I go.

My other excitement for the week happened yesterday at my in-laws house. Lance and I had tickets to the Jazz game last night. The plan was to leave Jace with the in-laws and then I was going to take Ariana to my mom and go pick Lance up from work and we would go to the game. Well, things didn't go as planned. I unlocked my car doors and got Ariana in the car. Well, I went to get in my seat and the door was locked, along with every other door. Of course, the keys happened to be inside the car with Ariana. I didn't freak out much because I knew she had a blanket on her and was fine when I got her in. I tried calling Lance and he didn't answer. I knew he had a key. I tried and tried calling him with no answer. Anyways, it had started blizzarding pretty bad outside and was really cold. After about 20 minutes of trying him, I called the security officer at his building (luckily I work with security and knew their number), and asked him to go find my husband. It had started getting way too long and I knew that even if I did finally get a hold of Lance, I would have to wait another 30 minutes for him to get there. Ariana had started screaming by that point. So, I finally gave in and called the police. So, I went outside and stood in the frigid cold and sure enough, a fire truck and police car pulled up. They worked on the car for a good 10-15 minutes before it finally unlocked. Ariana was still crying hysterically. My brother-in-law had to get her out because my hands were so frozen, I couldn't unlatch her seatbelt. I got in and wasn't even able to hold her because I was sopping wet from standing outside. Anyways, I learned my lesson to always keep my keys in my hand. You never know when the car doors are going to lock automatically on their own. After all this happened, there wasn't time for us to really make it to the Jazz game. It worked out though. I'm kind of glad we didn't have to drive to the game in the weather. I wonder if Ariana will look back on this one day and think what a crazy mom I was.

7 months

Ariana is now 7 months old. Every time another month goes by, I get a little emotional. I just can't believe how fast time is going by with her. I want her to stay my little baby and it won't be long before she's out of that. Anyways, today she had her 6-month appointment. Yes, she's a month behind, but she got her 4-month vaccinations so late that she couldn't have her 6-month ones until later as well. She was such a champ for her appointment. They gave her stats and her percentiles, but I don't know if they're stats for her being 7 months or 6 months. Anyways, here are the stats they gave me.

Weight: 20 pounds-95%
Height: 98%
Head: Still Big! Still off the charts!

Ariana was so great during the whole thing. She was smiling and cooing at everyone. She didn't even cry for her vaccinations. What a girl, huh? I brought up a lot of concerns with the doctor. We talked about her eczema problem. She was put on 3 different prescriptions for it last month. He said that it's common during winter for eczema to flare up. We'll just keep smothering her with aquaphor and hope it clears up in time. We also discussed her head with him because she's always had a flat head from laying on her back so much. He said that as she learns to sit up more, it should reshape itself and the hair should grow in back there and cover it, so we don't need to worry about it. As I've said in previous posts, Ariana is kind of our late-bloomer baby. She's been really slow at rolling and doing things that other babies are doing at her age. I talked to the doctor about it as well. He asked about her grabbing things and rolling and sitting and stuff like that and decided that she may be a little behind developmentally, so he gave us information about a place called DDI that specializes in development in children. Lance and I need to discuss what we would like to do at this point.

Here are things about Ariana at 7 months.

*She LOVES her solid foods now. We tried for about 2 months for her to take interest in them and it was so frustrating getting her to eat them. A couple weeks ago, she decided she liked them. Hooray! So, after her morning nap, she'll have a container of fruits and after her afternoon nap, we'll give her veggies or some sort of dinner meal.

*She still doesn't have any teeth, but they're definitely trying to come in. She's been more fussy lately and if you look really closely, you can see the whites of the teeth trying to come through.

*She's starting to get the hang of sitting up. She's not very good at it yet, but she'll get there.

*People ask if she's crawling yet. No....not even close. She has no idea how to push herself up with her arms to get into that crawling position.

*She doesn't roll around. She has no desire to roll around on the floor. She likes to turn herself onto her side, but she doesn't like to go all the way over.

*When she gets tired, she uses her voice. It kind of sounds like she's singing.

*She loves everyone. She doesn't mind if other people hold her.

* She lights up when anyone comes in the room, no matter who it is. If a new person comes in and talks to her, she gets so excited about it.

*She's got really long hair in the front of her head. It's growing in so fast. I've started trying to put little clips and stuff in it to keep it out of her face, but it's so thin, they won't stay in. Now we just need to get it to grow in on the back of her head.

*She's wearing 12 month clothing. Hopefully once she learns to crawl and stuff, her weight will even out and she can wear 12 month for awhile.

We still love our little girl. She's such a joy to have in our family!

Valentines Date!

So, I know it's not Valentine's Day quite yet, but Lance and I decided to avoid the craziness of the actual day and celebrate early this year. For Christmas, Lance had thought about sending me to a spa to get a pedicure and just get pampered for the day. It didn't happen, so for Valentine's, he made the proposal that him and I should go together to a spa. It was definitely a splurge, but we decided to go for it and do it. We called the spa and it just so happened that they had a Valentines special going on for this weekend where they shut the spa down and left it open only for couples. There would be rose petals and sparkling cider, candles, a chocolate fountain and we'd be treated like VIPs (okay, so they didn't tell us they'd treat us like VIPs, but that's kind of how we felt while we were there). We made a whole evening of it.

We started out by eating at the Brick Oven over in South Jordan. It was literally right next to the spa, so we decided to try it out. I think our eyes were bigger than our stomachs though and we ordered the first thing we saw, the pasta bar. I wouldn't say the food was bad. I just don't think we got quite what we wanted. We should have taken time to look over the menu before jumping into our decision of what to get. The rootbeer though, was delish! And the apple crisp was also pretty dang amazing.

After we ate, we headed right over to the spa. We got there and loaded up our plates with chocolate-covered goodness and went back to get our pedicures. I actually had my very first pedicure just a couple months ago and I thought that was pretty amazing. But this pedicure was really amazing. This time around, we got to sit in massage chairs while getting our feet pampered. We had people coming in to refill our glasses of sparkling cider and that were willing to go refill our plates with more yummies. The best part though was doing it with Lance.

After our pedicures, they took us to a private room where we got hot stone massages. I had NO idea what to expect. The thought of hot stones scared me a little. It was AMAZING! They told us that it was a relaxing thing. I really began to understand what they meant while getting it done. The atmosphere was so peaceful and it really was relaxing. I would have been happy if they didn't stop for another hour or so, but unfortunately, it had to end. We've decided that when we can afford it, we're going to splurge and go get facials together. For obvious reasons, we didn't take pictures of our massages, but here are pictures from our pedicures.

Lance getting his first ever pedicure!

And here we are together!

It was definitely nice having a night out alone together not having to worry about kids or anything. It's not very often we get to go out on dates.

Of course, a post just isn't the same without adding pictures of our beautiful children.


I love this little stinker! He's still my little wild child.


And this little sweetheart. Love how she has started sucking on her bottom lip.

Thanks sweetie for planning such a great Valentines date and giving me some beautiful children!

Never a Dull Moment

Having a 4-year-old can be quite challenging. There's never a dull moment in our house with Jace. He keeps us on our toes...well, at least me. He seems to behave a little better when Lance his home. I guess mommy's the one that has taken it more easy on him and he thinks he can get away with things easier with her. Something I need to work on, I guess. That kid likes to make mischief. I can't keep up with him!!! It can be overwhelming at times finding his messes. And usually, I don't even hear him doing it. That's what boggles me. He's so quiet and sneaky. And he's fast too! He usually makes these messes while I'm feeding Ariana or something quick like that. Here's what I mean:

The other day, while I was feeding Ariana, Jace came running into me telling me he had cleaned his floor. I was shocked he could do that because his floor was not exactly clean. Where did everything go I wondered...oh...here it is! In the bathroom. I screamed when I saw the mess, and then I laughed, and then I cried a little because I knew I would have to help him clean it up.

Today, I was in the bathroom getting ready and walked out to find all of his toys lined up outside the bathroom door, toys that had been downstairs. Somehow, he managed to carry his toys from the basement and get them upstairs before I got out of the bathroom. There weren't just a few toys. There were about 20 different cars, 2 racetracks, a toy piano, etc.

How does he do it??? Let me tell you....being a mother can be a little overwhelming at times. I get really frustrated and wonder how I can do it, but I just keep trudging along because I am reminded daily from my little boy that he loves me and those are the moments that I love the most.

I just have to post this as well because I love it. About a month ago, Jace had a pen and paper and I managed to get him to write his name.

I can't get over it! I love it. Then, today, I brought him into my work for a little while where we met Lance. I looked over at the board to see this:

This is honestly the first thing he's ever drawn that you actually know what it is. It's a picture of his daddy. The little scribble on his head is his hat and he also gave him a little beard too. Is that not cute? I love my kids!!!

6 Months!

Ariana is 6 months old. Did I really just say that? Can it already have been 6 months with her part of our family? Time goes way too fast! These have seriously been some of the best 6 months in my life. I absolutely LOVE having a daughter. I love having a son too, of course. There's just something so special about this little girl though. Here are some things about this little girl that I would like to remember at 6 months.

*She's sooo happy. The only time she cries if she's really really hungry or if she gets really tired.

*It took 5 months, but she has finally turned into a binky baby. It has been seriously the GREATEST thing! I don't think she is attached to the binky, but if she gets really tired, all I have to do is stick her binky in her mouth and she's out like a light.

*She loves to sit up. As long as someone is holding her, she's pretty happy.

*She loves to nurse, and I honestly love nursing her, but sadly, I think my nursing days are about over. I nursed Jace up to 6 months and I couldn't do it anymore. Sadly, the same thing is happening with Ariana. I don't think I'm destined to nurse past 6 months. No matter how much water I drink or what I do, my body just stops producing enough milk at 6 months. It's been an emotional time thinking of stopping with her because I've nursed her since birth and I love it.

*We're still working on solid foods with her, but so far, it still hasn't been going very well. I've been adding breast milk to her cereal and I think it helps maybe a little, but she still isn't too interested in it. So far, I've also tried feeding her sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, peas, and even bananas and she hasn't really gone for it. She spazzes out everytime I give her a bite. I think it might be a texture thing rather than a taste thing. We'll just keep working at it.

*She has finally rolled over once from tummy to back and once back to tummy. She still just doesn't understand it very much. She's just kind of a slowpoke at picking up on it.

*She sleeps through the night and has been for awhile. She wakes up pretty early in the morning, but after a feeding, she's back to sleep until like noon.

*She's my cuddle bug. Jace would only go to sleep in his crib as a baby. With her, I can wrap her up and give her a binky and she'll fall asleep in my arms. I love it!

*She's still ticklish.

*She loves blankets and dresses, whatever she can grab and pull up over her. I put a dress on her for church last week and the entire time at church, she laid on the floor with her dress pulled up and nuzzled to her face. Everyone was so concerned about it, but she was happy as could be.

*She lights up whenever someone walks into the room. When daddy gets home or Jace gets home from school, she gets so happy to see a new face.

*She's getting really close to sitting up on her own. She doesn't quite have it, but we're working on it everyday.

*She's still my little chunkeroo. Her 6-month appointment isn't for another month because she had her 4-month appointment so late, but I know she's chunky. I took her to the doctor for eczema a couple weeks ago and she weighed I think 18 3/4 pounds, something like that. I don't know the percentage of that, but I'm pretty sure it has to be in the 90's at least.

*She currently has no teeth, but I know she's teething. The way she drools and chews on things constantly, I know a tooth has got to be popping up sometime soon.

I have a girl in our neighborhood taking pictures of her this week, so hopefully I can post those soon after getting them taken!

100 posts! And what we've been up to...

So, I've been blogging for approximately 4 years now, and I'm just now getting to my 100th post. That shows how much I update my blog. Oh well...I try. So, I know I said last month that I would update after Ariana's 4-month appointment. Well, that was about a month ago and I'm finally getting to it. Ariana did great at her doctors appointment. She weighed 17 1/2 pounds (97%) and honestly, I can't remember her height but I think it calculated to like the 95% or something like that. So, she's a pretty big. This is where the appointment go interesting. They looked at her growth for her head and it was off the charts big. I always knew she had a bigger head, but I guess I just didn't realize how big it was. The doctor got a little concerned about the size and wanted to schedule an appointment for an ultrasound on it at Primary Children's. They thought she was developing normally and stuff, so they weren't too concerned. There's just always concern about water on the brain with some bigger-headed babies. Anyways, our insurance has paid everything for the rest of the year, so I went ahead and went with it. I figure I'd rather be safe than sorry. So, the following week, I headed up to the hospital with baby girl in tow. Lance just HAD to get the stomach flu that morning, so I took my mother-in-law with me for support. Got up there, got checked in, got right back to the room and they looked everything over. Ariana was a real trooper and was happy for most of it. I think it got really hard for her to hold still and eventually got fussy. We got results the same day. Radiologist said everything looked on the high end of normal to her. There is some liquid in her soft spot area, but nothing to be concerned about. It should clear up by the time she turns 1. What a relief! Poor Ariana has the big-headed genes I guess. Our baby is happy and healthy and that's all that matters.

Ariana is now 5 months old and such a sweet and good baby. She's such a joy to have in our family. Jace loves her so much. I hear him every morning when they both wake up talking to her and assuring her she's okay and mommy will come and get her. He loves to rub his head into her and talk to her and it's funny how much she likes it. She just loves her big brother and loves to watch his every move. Some more things about Ariana just so I can remember them (I was never very good about documenting things about Jace and now regret it). She hasn't rolled over yet. I guess she's going to be really slow at it. She loves her mommy! She is really good when her daddy takes care of her, but will eventually get really fussy, but the second she sees her mommy, she just gets a big smile like she's so happy to see me. She is sooooo ticklish! I don't think I've ever seen a baby as ticklish as she is. She loves to stand. I think I remember Jace always sitting, but Ariana, all I have to do is grab both hands and she automatically goes to a standing position. We noticed today she's a little bit of a thumb sucker. She won't take a binky. We pushed it for a little while and she would eventually start sucking on it, but she was never very big on it. Sometimes I think she is teething because she's starting to suck on her fingers and everyone else's fingers and she drools like no other! Good thing she got lots of bibs for Christmas because I think she is going to require one. I started Ariana on baby food, but it has been so hard for her to pick up on how to eat thicker stuff. I've been trying for about a month to feed her rice cereal and even tried sweet potatoes once. It's almost like she just has a really hard time swallowing it. I push some into her mouth and she automatically sticks out her tongue and it all comes back out. I don't ever remember giving Jace baby food being this difficult. She's definitely big enough for it. I'm just continuing to work on it and hoping she will pick it up soon because it sure has been frustrating trying to get her to eat it everyday.

As a mom, I really worry about my kids. I know I'm not the only mother to say that. I just really watch my kids and see how they're developing compared to other kids. Sure every kid is different, but I just really watch and tend to notice things. I noticed a lot of things about Jace and then found out later I wasn't crazy and he has aspergers. I just look at Ariana and worry about her as well. It's a little worrisome that she hasn't rolled over yet. I think it's more worrisome that she doesn't really try to roll over. Whenever I lay her down on the ground on her tummy, she just lays there. I feel like she should be making attempts to roll over by now. I also worry a little bit that she doesn't try to grab at things yet. A lot of babies by this age are starting to touch things and hold onto them. I put a toy in front of Ariana and she just looks at it. I put something to her hand and she just drops it. Maybe my problem is I have 2 kids now and Ariana is very different from how her brother was. I'm not too worried about her yet because she is still young and she does do a lot of things like smile and laugh and react to things. It's just other things physically that she doesn't do. It's just really interesting to me to see the difference between babies.


I suppose I should post about Jace as well. I can't forget about that little guy. Jace is just a super fun little boy. We just celebrated Christmas yesterday and it was a blast with him this year. Lance and I decided to forgo doing gifts for each other this year and focus on Jace. I don't regret it one bit. Jace memorized about every Christmas song that came on the radio. I think he's going to be a little sad getting in the car finding that Christmas songs are now over. I think his favorite was Jingle Bell Rock. Jace was excited about gifts this year. He opened all of his presents and was even excited over all of Ariana's. He went around the room with my family and had to help all of them with opening their presents. We got home so late last night that we told Jace we didn't have time to get his toys out because it was bed time. This morning, I found him sitting with his toys around him just looking at all of them in their boxes waiting until Lance and I woke up to get them out for him. Jace still loves preschool. He has now learned all of the capital letters and most of his numbers as well. We are now trying to focus on helping him learn his lower case letters. He loves to see things written out and tell us what letters they are. He is finally really starting to get good about letting us take pictures of him. If you remember, Jace has always hated getting pictures taken. I'm excited because he's getting pictures tomorrow with his cousins and hopefully they should turn out really good. Getting pictures of Jace isn't such a traumatic thing anymore. And sadly, I don't have any new pictures of with me to post of him right now.

As for an update on me and Lance....I'm still working, but just PRN (as needed). I was worried about not having guaranteed hours, but it has been great so far. I've been picking up quite a few shifts, especially with it being the holidays. Lance picked up a temporary second job, just where he already works but taking phone calls. He's gone all the time, but it's been a blessing for our family his work letting him do that. He had interview with another company to work a second job, but I'd rather him keep doing what he is doing for as long as they'll let him. We'll see what happens with that.

Anyways...I think that's about our life right now. Things are going great with our little family. I'll write again next year!!!

Lots of Ariana

So, Ariana turned 4 months last week. She's already 1/3 of a year old...seriously!?! I plan on posting next week all about my baby girl as soon as she has her 4-month doctor appointment. But for now, I will just post pictures of our first 4 months with her (in no particular order).














We sure love having this little girl in our family!!!